


Smile. Laugh For Me Then.

by orphan_account



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 15:35:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7273825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tao wanted a smile from Kai. Kai wanted a laugh from Tao. </p><p>In the outcome of getting what they both wanted, they got smiles and laughs from the rest of their friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile. Laugh For Me Then.

Everyone knew that this was one of those aching muscles and bones day. The ones where no one either had the energy or time to be able to joke around. Well everyone but the three beagles in the group, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Chen who just can’t seem to keep quiet even when they’re exhausted. The smell of hairspray and perfume permeated the room and with their busy schedule, they’ve been in the same dressing room with the same exact strong smells that it’s gotten sickening. With each breath that Tao takes he has to keep himself from gagging, one so he doesn’t embarrass himself in front of everyone if he does end up puking, and two so he doesn’t disrupt the stylist who was currently working on applying his eyeliner. With one last final irritating, yet familiar, cold point of the eyeliner on his skin, he blinked to try and get rid of the dryness of his eyes from straining all day.  
  
Taking this break between having his facial makeup finished and starting his hairstyling, he glanced around the room at the rest of his bandmates. Half of them were finished with their styling and were lounging around trying to catch a blink of shut eye before they were to run on stage for their performances. Yeah. Performances, well just 3 to be specific, Wolf, Growl, and Overdose. Just thinking about it all and how they had to appear as interested in the fans at all time made his body ache everywhere. Even the stylists were tired and that was shown very clearly when they made a rookie mistake about getting the first few member’s makeup and hair done before they realized that they still had to change into their outfits that would surely ruin everything that they’d done.  
  
Chanyeol and Baekhyun were as always trying to get others to join in their exhausted fun while Chen just laughed when they were turned down and poked fun with them. Taking a look at each one of them Tao noticed that most of them were trying to catch some rest but his eyes stopped when they landed on the only member that was close to his skin tone. Kai was one of the others who hadn’t finished his makeup and Tao took the time to observe the younger’s posture. Kai’s shoulders were hunched forward, his hands held between his legs, muscles taut under the plaid shirt of his outfit. The red bandana tied around his bicep stood out unusually against his skin due to the fact that the exhaustion had clearly paled everyone's complexes. Tao’s face felt heavy with the foundation that had been applied to hide up just how worn out he was but what kept his attention on Kai was the expression he held.  
  
Kai’s jaw was clenched, the muscles in his neck and along his jawline defining that fact and instead of having the relaxed face he usually did during less cluttered days was absent and was instead replaced with one that reminded him of when he was dancing. Dark and dangerously alluring. Tao swallowed, getting rid of the dryness in his throat that just looking at the look made him react that way.  
  
It wasn’t long until Kai was finished with his makeup and Tao quickly turned his head back to the mirror in front of him when Kai’s head moved towards Tao, not wanting to be caught. Even thought Tao had managed to escaped from being discovered in the act, Kai knew that Tao had been staring. It wasn’t very hard to tell. He’d seen the older from the corner of his eye when he had pretended to look over at the different sets of pallets the stylist had set on the countertop. When he saw the glazed look in Tao’s eyes that gave him the signal that the older had spaced out, Kai looked over, observing the other and seeing the way his eyes seemed to reflect the exhaustion everyone else felt. His shoulders were slack, and the only thing keeping Tao’s head from falling down was the stylists hand on his jaw.  
  
Usually in times like this, there’d be a lot of joking going around in the dressing rooms but on schedules like this, it was eerily silent. Well, for them at least. And Kai found himself missing the high pitched laugh that would ring out across the room when Tao would laugh at something that he found tremendously funny and Kai felt good when he was the one who made the Panda laugh. He wasn’t able to stay on this thought because the next thing he knew, they were rushing out onto the stage but the thought stuck to him.

  
* * * * *

  
Everyone was clearly trying not to collapse on the stage, serious looks and trying to keep up the bright facades as they all came to stand at the front of the stage when their dances had finally finished. The choreography was what was so draining about performing and Tao found himself watching Kai and noticing the way Kai wouldn’t seem to crack a smile of any form towards the crowd when his parts came up. It was unusual because Kai would always make some kind of expression to set the fans off but not today.  
  
Kai found it almost humorous how Tao was so oblivious to the fact that whenever he would look away, Kai would take his turn to stare at Tao. He’s always found it cute the way Tao had the features of a child and with every moment he watched Tao, the more he wanted to make Tao laugh.  
  
Tao, so caught in his thoughts, he didn’t realize that his legs gave out until he was stumbling slightly from where he stood, faintly hearing the alarmed shouts coming from his bandmates when he felt the hands of those around him shoot out to catch him before he could collapse. He felt his face go red with embarrassment as he managed to stabilize himself, his hand coming up to dig the ball of his palm into his eyes to rid of the tiredness in them.  
  
“You okay, Tao?” Suho asked (MAMA SUHO TO THE RESCUE) and Tao just nodded, facing the ground from where he was leaned over, hands on his knees before gathering the strength to straighten up. He was immediately met with concerned faces which he brushed off quickly with a small smile that he knew did hardly anything to assure his bandmates but really, what could he do? They all knew how he felt and also knew not to pry anymore when the fans were watching and they were live. Glancing to the side, he saw Kai staring at him and even though the concern wasn’t clearly evident on his face, Tao could see it with the way Kai’s lips were slightly parted, his eyes seeming to stare at Tao in a way that made Tao feel as if Kai was afraid to look away in fear that Tao would collapse. To try and reassure him, he tried to give him a smile which probably came out more of a grimace than a smile.  
  
When Kai finally looked away and the voice of Xiumin was filling the air through the microphone, Tao kept his eyes on Kai, thinking of a way to get a smile on that stone face. It wasn’t that Tao didn’t like this look, it surely attracted him, but he liked Kai’s smile more. He liked it when Kai was Jongin when he didn’t have to be Kai. So he decided to try and get a smile on him.  
  
Discreetly making his way towards Kai who was near the end, Sehun and Luhan and Lay bringing up the end, Tao slipped in between Kai and D.O who moved to make space for Tao to move into. With the shift in D.O. movements, Kai looked down in curiosity before Tao’s familiar blond hair came into view. He watched as Tao’s eyes scanned over him before finding something interesting, his hand raising to point at Kai’s shoulder. “You’re earpiece fell out.”  
  
At this, Kai looked down, seeing that indeed it had fallen out from his ear and placed it in his ear just to see Tao, from the corner of his eye, light up with an idea, one that made Kai wary. Just before his earpiece could be properly placed back in, it was flicked from his flingers. Looking at Tao, he saw the older quickly look away though it didn’t fool the younger as Kai kept looking at Tao until the older looked back at him. Kai had an accusing look in his eyes that had Tao’s lips cracking a smile that started to widen as Kai’s eyebrow raised at him before Kai made a nudge with his elbow swatting Tao away playfully. Knowing that he’d been caught, Tao proceeded to bend the microphone up to Kai’s eye while the latter was fixing his earpiece. This went on a couple of more times, Kai fixing his earpiece just for his microphone to be tinkered with, fixing it just to have his earpiece pulled out again, and then the wire was pulled around his ear.  
  
Going to fix the wire now wrapped around his ear, Kai let his hand drop, lips pursing as he gave up on trying to fix it, smiling at Tao with even a light laugh. Tao knew this annoyed Kai but he hoped to get a smile from him and his heart jumps when he does. Seeing Kai’s mouth curl and open to reveal his white teeth and the way his eyes curved into crescent moons made a mission accomplished and he was even more happy when he heard the laugh that was completely Jongin when playing around.  
  
Seeing the smile his smile had brought to Tao’s face made Kai seek a laugh from him that he thought he deserved. So he stared at Tao for a moment, a smirk on his face before he quickly reached out, grabbing the bottom of Tao’s hoodie and pulling it up. As soon as stomach was exposed, the fans started screaming which drew the other member’s attentions to see what had happened. Tao quickly yanked his hoodie down before it could reach his chest in embarrassment, turning slightly away in surprise that brought a laugh to his lips. Kai just smiled down at Tao as the older proceeded to slap him on the arm once his hoodie was set again, his arm raising to cover his mouth slightly as he doubled over in his laughter. Kai’s heart sped up when he heard the the high pitched sound, the one he’d been wishing to hear the whole day and he joined in, drawing his arms around the taller when he’d straightened up. Tao and Kai’s laughter drew laughs from the other members who began to hit the others in their wild amusement when they found out what had happened from the members who’d seen.  
  
Little did Tao and Kai know that they had managed to not only bring a smile or laugh from the one they had in mind but also had brought cheer back into their fellow friends. When the performance ended, all together and with bright smile and laughs on their faces, they linked hands.  
  
**“EXO saranghaja!”**

 


End file.
